Pictures of my installation

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heynow999
heynow999 Solar Expert Posts: 80 ✭✭✭✭
in General Solar Power Topics #1
Everyone loves pictures

This is 16 x 160 watt Evergreen panels on the back of my house. Thats all the panels up, I still have to wire it up and put some trim up

Above the PV on the roof are 30 Thermomax tubes for domestic hot water.

Thanks

Peter
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  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,447 admin
    #2
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    Re: Pictures of my installation

    Looking nice!

    How is the solar hot water working for you?

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
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  • heynow999
    heynow999 Solar Expert Posts: 80 ✭✭✭✭
    #3
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    Re: Pictures of my installation
    BB. wrote: »
    Looking nice!

    How is the solar hot water working for you?

    -Bill

    I installed the hot water at the start of the summer. It has provided all the hot water we need so far (sept 4) without turning on the back-up electric heater. I am hoping that it will provide most, if not all, of our hot water for the year, we are willing to put up with short showers in the winter. My wife will only do laundry on sunny days in the winter, within reason. Our electricity use over the summer dropped from 40 kw/day to 28 kw/day. Our next step is CFL and powerbars on all the phantom loads. I am hopeing that the 16 panels will cover all our hydro costs. I know it won't cover our usage, but we have a government program where they buy ALL your pv power and pay you 42 cents a kw. We buy power for 12 cents a kw so the hydro bill should be covered. I am assuming 4 hours of sunlight.

    I am new to solar, this is my first installation, so any ideas are appreciated. The next step is placing the inverter and wireing it together. I am considering putting the inverter on the wall of the houde under the panels. It will be covered from direct rain, but will be outside. I have also considered mounting the inverter on the underside of the framework that holds up the panels. It will be better sheltered, but I think it may be a hotter location, especially in the summer. Those panels get really hot!

    Any ideas?

    Thanks

    Peter
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  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,447 admin
    #4
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    Re: Pictures of my installation

    Oh--the usual suggestions...

    Kill-A-Watt meter to measure the small loads.

    Pay attention first to the "big loads"... Power bars on small loads (like cell phone chargers) can help--but if you are at 28kWhr per day--saving 4 watts (4w*24h*1/1,000WHperkWhr)=0.024 kWhrs per day per "average" wall transformer will just drive your significant other crazy (unless as dedicated as you).

    To give you an idea:

    28kWhrs * 1,000 W/kW / 24 hours per day = 1,166 watt load over 24 hour day...

    So, you are looking for things that draw several hundred watts 24 hours per day (or several 1,000 watts for a few hours per day).

    Since you have electric heat (hot water)--the solar thermal should be a great way to save money. I am guessing that you might have an electric range/drier/heating/etc.--choosing to stay with electric appliances, or converting to propane (or what ever fuel you have available in your area) may or may not make sense.

    But other appliances (like old fridge, large desktop computers with monitors/printers left running 24x7) will do well to check with the kill-a-watt meter and decide what to replace vs just turn off when not needed (or, for example, use a small laptop/low power server 24x7 and only use the desktop when needed for larger projects).

    Lastly, if you want to see what your estimated production for your solar system will be--this link has always given pretty accurate estimates for me.

    For Toronto, a 16x160watt system (using program defaults) would seem to generate around 9+ kWhrs per day this time of year...

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
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  • n3qik
    n3qik Solar Expert Posts: 741 ✭✭
    #5
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    Re: Pictures of my installation

    Looks good. The only thing we ask is for MORE pics during the installation.
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  • heynow999
    heynow999 Solar Expert Posts: 80 ✭✭✭✭
    #6
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    Re: Pictures of my installation

    Hereee ya go!

    peter
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  • heynow999
    heynow999 Solar Expert Posts: 80 ✭✭✭✭
    #7
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    Re: Pictures of my installation

    more pictures. 1 1/4 galvanized steel

    My helper. He gets paid in Lego
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  • heynow999
    heynow999 Solar Expert Posts: 80 ✭✭✭✭
    #8
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    Re: Pictures of my installation
    BB. wrote: »

    Since you have electric heat (hot water)--the solar thermal should be a great way to save money. I am guessing that you might have an electric range/drier/heating/etc.--choosing to stay with electric appliances, or converting to propane (or what ever fuel you have available in your area) may or may not make sense.

    But other appliances (like old fridge, large desktop computers with monitors/printers left running 24x7) will do well to check with the kill-a-watt meter and decide what to replace vs just turn off when not needed (or, for example, use a small laptop/low power server 24x7 and only use the desktop when needed for larger projects).

    We do have an electric stove and dryer, I know those are the big offenders. I have Nat gas at the house, but I don't like the idea of gas for a dryer. The wife has actually said she will use a clothes line, so i am going to install one under the panels. I agree that chasing phantom loads are not the "low hanging fruits" but I have done what I can with the SDHW. I hope to get our usage down to 25 kw/day, that way the revenue from the panels should cover the hydro bill.

    Thanks

    Peter
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #9
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    Re: Pictures of my installation
    heynow999 wrote: »
    Hereee ya go!

    peter

    you might want to move the sat dish for the birds will poop all over the pvs below it. i'm talking from experience on that. also having the pvs sitting under the gutters may at times pose a problem or 2. if you swipe your hand across the gutter and get the paint or white coating on your hands that means you should either move the pvs further away or change the gutters because some of that will leach to the pvs. my aluminum framed windows are like this and yes, i need new windows.
    i also have a sticky for pics of installs or links to them and would appreciate if you could put some there for others to not have to rumage through the forum to find pv installation pics. one place for all makes it nice and you can leave them in this post too as you could also place a link in that thread to this one for the ones you had posted here. try not to duplicate unless it is a key pic.
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  • icarus
    icarus Solar Expert Posts: 5,436 ✭✭✭✭
    #10
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    Re: Pictures of my installation

    Consider a demand gas (Nat or LP) water heater for those times when the solar is not quite enough. (Takagi, Paloma, Rinnai) See some of the related threads in the water pumping sections of this site. Demand water heaters are a great way to supplement your solar,,,much more efficient than electric, (unless you have a great surplus of PV). I also notice you said that you were going to cfl. That really should be your first investment, as it's pay off is so fast, plus the size of any PV array can be that much smaller due to the smaller loads.

    Tony
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